How to root a Nook Color to transform it into an Android tablet

The Nook Color has the potential to be a compelling low-cost tablet. In this …

Barnes and Noble launched the Nook Color last year with the aim of enabling a more interactive user experience and tighter Web integration than conventional e-book readers. The device's color touchscreen and assortment of Internet-enabled applications help differentiate it from Amazon's increasingly ubiquitous Kindle.

The Nook Color is an intriguing product, but its most compelling feature isn't listed on the box. Beneath the e-book reader facade, the Nook Color runs Google's powerful Android mobile operating system. Barnes and Noble intends to eventually expose more of the Nook's Android functionality to end users in future updates, but Android enthusiasts have already gotten a head start.

In this article, we will explain how to "root" the Nook Color so that its software environment can be customized. We will also evaluate the Nook Color's suitability as a low-cost tablet computer and discuss third-party applications that are particularly useful on the device.

Hardware

The Nook Color is powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 processor that is clocked at 800MHz. It has 512MB of RAM and a 7-inch, multitouch-enabled, color screen with a 1024x600 resolution. The CPU is a modest step down compared to the current generation of Android devices (it's in the same ballpark as that of the original Motorola Droid), but the Nook Color's specs are otherwise comparable with the hardware in Samsung's Galaxy Tab and other mid-range tablets.

Available for $249 at Barnes and Noble retail stores, the Nook Color is a pretty good value compared to its more costly rivals. The WiFi-only version of the Galaxy Tab, for example, costs $500 from Best Buy—twice the price of the Nook Color. Although the tablet experience on a hacked Nook Color has some rough edges and annoyances, it still gives the user virtually all of the same capabilities as the more expensive Galaxy Tab.

The build quality and hardware specs of the Nook Color are significantly better than the low-end, budget Android tablets like the dubious Maylong. The only other Android tablet that is worth considering in the Nook Color's price category is the Archos 70, which can be had for around $335 from various online retailers. The Archos 70 benefits from a faster 1GHz processor, but has a lower-resolution display than the Nook Color.

The Nook Color is arguably a pretty good choice for Android enthusiasts who are looking for a device that couples decent hardware with a low-budget price point. It's not a tablet right out of the box, but it doesn't take much effort to make it think it's a tablet.

The low price has made the Nook Color especially attractive to Android enthusiasts, which means that there is a very active modding community. A number of tools and techniques have emerged for opening up the device and extending its capabilities.

Custom software on the Nook Color

There are two different approaches to turning the Nook Color into a tablet: you can root the Nook Color's default software environment and extend it with third-party applications, or you can run a conventional Android environment by booting a custom ROM image from a microSD card.

The custom ROM images are an appealing option because they offer the ability to get relatively close to the stock upstream user experience. Unfortunately, the custom ROMs are still highly experimental and aren't quite yet ready for day-to-day use.

The Nookie Froyo project is a community-driven effort to build a stock Android 2.2 environment that is tailored to the Nook Color hardware. Its kernel is based on the source code published by Barnes and Noble and the userspace is principally adapted from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). The developers characterize it as "pre-alpha" quality and strongly advise against adopting it at this time.

There is a port of the popular Cyanogen ROM for the Nook Color that is under active development and is said to be very close to being ready for adoption. It currently seems a bit more promising than Nookie Froyo.

There is also a separate project to bring Android 3.0, codenamed Honeycomb, to the Nook Color. The bootable Honeycomb ROM for the Nook Color is based on the system image that Google shipped in the Android 3.0 SDK preview. It has a lot of rough edges and major functionality gaps due to its peculiar genesis. Like the Nookie Froyo ROM, it's really not practical for day-to-day use at the current time. The modding community will likely be able to build a more functional Honeycomb ROM for the Nook Color in the future after Google releases the Android 3.0 source code.

The custom ROMs have the potential to bring a lot of value to the Nook Color in the long-term, but basic rooting is more practical for users who want a day-to-day tablet, right now. The rest of this article will focus on how to root and enhance the standard Android 2.1 software environment that ships with the Nook Color. In a follow-up post, I'll describe my experiences with the Honeycomb ROM and explain how developers can use it for live Android 3.0 application debugging on the Nook Color.

Rooting

Like most multi-user operating systems, the Linux platform's security model is based on the principal of least authority. Individual users have limited access to the system and are generally prevented from performing potentially hazardous actions. There is typically a "root" super-user account that has heightened administrative privileges and unfettered access to the operating system.

When users enable root access on a Linux-based consumer electronics device—usually by exploiting a privilege escalation security vulnerability—they can make unauthorized changes to the software environment and modify it to add additional functionality. On an Android-based device like the Nook Color, a user with root access can side-load third-party applications and introduce software components that have been extracted from other Android devices. You can even add the Android Market, which makes it easy to install additional software on the Nook Color.

The Nook Color modding community has produced a special tool called the Auto-Nooter that will give the user root access and automatically apply a number of popular customizations. It will add the Android Market, enable multi-touch interaction, install the Busybox shell, and add some standard applications like the Android calendar, calculator, and e-mail client. It also comes with a useful softkey application that we will discuss later in the article.

To root a Nook Color, you have to download the Auto-Nooter system image, write it to a microSD card, and then boot the Nook Color with the SD card inserted. The Auto-Nooter image basically just bootstraps the system and runs and a script that makes the desired modifications to the Nook's internal filesystem and then installs some Android packages.

Before you start the process, you should keep in mind that rooting the Nook Color very likely voids the warranty. When you make after-market modifications to the embedded software on a consumer electronics device, there are always risks. In this case, there is a possibility that you could brick the device. Rooting also exposes the user to greater risk of potential security issues.

And remember: we aren't responsible if you break something. If your Nook Color explodes during experimentation, you're free to pursue a life of amoral crime and misdirected acts of vengeance against society. Just don't blame us or the Nook Color development community.

The Nook is a good sign for what to expect in the coming months: Cheap Android tablets that are just good enough to use them. There's no reason a halfway decent tablet couldn't be possible for about $300...

This is awesome. I wonder what B&N thinks about this? Are they selling the tablets at a loss expecting to make up the revenue from book sales?

The general consensus is that the device is basically being sold at cost with the sales of ebooks expected to be the profit source.

I gave one to my sister for Christmas and she took it in to a B&N where she used to work and wound up spending two hours getting dragged around to show different people how it worked. She said everybody had heard about it, hadn't seen it done, and said they wanted to root their NC.

I wonder if B&N is selling the Nook at a loss. Not that the small number of people who would do this would cause the Nook to fail, but I would imagine with the price delta between the Nook and other quality tablets out there that they have to be losing some money on each sale.

Of course, if B&N can sell the Nook at a loss like this, you wonder why a android tablet with a 3g connection costs $500 from a cell data carrier?

Which brings up another question: Does the Nook Color have a 3g chip? Is it accessible when rooted? Could you get a pre-paid SIM for data and go to town with this?

It's got to be a lot more than the hardware specs. Seriously, WTF? Verizon, AT&T and others should be giving android tabs away with a $50 per month 2-year contract ($50x24 months = $1200) or selling them for $250 with a $35 per month 2-year contract ($35x24 months = $840 +250 = $1090). But right now the Galaxy tab is $500 at Verizon and $550 at AT&T with no contract. Is this Samsung's doing?

Overall this looks like an interesting project, but my wife and I both have Kindles and she has an iPad, I just can't see spending another $250 to have another device like this in the house.

If your Nook Color is brand new, you have to start by booting it up and taking it through the regular Barnes and Noble registration process before you can run the Auto-Nooter.

Since B&N is USA only, how does this affect someone overseas who imports a Nook with the intention of rooting it? Do you need to register a CC and address during this process or can you register without proving you're in the US?

All besides the stock can be run off of SD card for your convenience (though at a bit slower rate than a eMMC install).

Caveats - CM7/NookHoney do not have support for hardware decoding, so youtube videos and the like will need to be run off of flash vs the native apps.

Lots of helpful advice available in the Ars Technica forum, btw.

All the projects are pretty fast moving. Nookie 0.6.7 is pretty much okay for everyday use with most everything functional. CM7's working pretty darned well at this point, and the devs are working on getting a fully functional market (almost all apps work now, just waiting on updating and some more tweaks) and getting HW decoding working.

It's nice to see this getting some good publicity. I bought my NC about a month ago and rooted it first thing. I'm now running the Cyanogen nightlies and they're really quite good. Cyanogen has a ways to go on the Nook Color to be truly great, but if you're looking for immediate added functionality without losing any of the default BN stuff, Auto-Nooter is amazing.

Can you still use it to buy books from Barnes and Noble? If so I don't see why they should really care, as long as they are selling at cost. It just increases their possible market.

If HP is smart they will make a really open platform with WebOS and get a nice niche of power users. Somewhat like Apple did to start their turnaround - they had open easily accessible OSX with a lot of rough edges and caused me to buy an Apple. It got them out of their hole of the late '90's before they pretty much abandoned this market. So there is an opening there in the tablet, iPod touch like space I think.

If anything, it would be a good idea for B&N to open up the Nook Color a little more, so that people won't root it (and thereby overwrite the launcher). If the NC offered a choice of bookstore apps, controlling the home screens should still give B&N a pretty solid advantage over their rivals' apps. Besides, apps would get me to keep the NC with me more often, increasing opportunity for impulse purchases.

As responsive (with the proper kernel) as my N1. You can swap out for whatever launcher you want, so 'easy to use' is subjective.

What I mean is the hardware itself. Do you have to mash your finger through the screen in order for it to read your touch? How well does the multitouch work? I mostly want to avoid buying a tablet that has a terrible screen like most of the other cheap android tablets.

I wonder if B&N is selling the Nook at a loss. Not that the small number of people who would do this would cause the Nook to fail, but I would imagine with the price delta between the Nook and other quality tablets out there that they have to be losing some money on each sale.

Of course, if B&N can sell the Nook at a loss like this, you wonder why a android tablet with a 3g connection costs $500 from a cell data carrier?

Which brings up another question: Does the Nook Color have a 3g chip? Is it accessible when rooted? Could you get a pre-paid SIM for data and go to town with this?

It's got to be a lot more than the hardware specs. Seriously, WTF? Verizon, AT&T and others should be giving android tabs away with a $50 per month 2-year contract ($50x24 months = $1200) or selling them for $250 with a $35 per month 2-year contract ($35x24 months = $840 +250 = $1090). But right now the Galaxy tab is $500 at Verizon and $550 at AT&T with no contract. Is this Samsung's doing?

Overall this looks like an interesting project, but my wife and I both have Kindles and she has an iPad, I just can't see spending another $250 to have another device like this in the house.

My guess is that they are selling it just above break even. As some tear down companies have listed the ipad costing about 230 for parts and assembly. So figure with a smaller screen, smaller battery, less flash memory and a plastic case, total cost for parts and assembly might be in the 190 range. Giving them 60 dollars for software development sales and maybe slight profit.

As responsive (with the proper kernel) as my N1. You can swap out for whatever launcher you want, so 'easy to use' is subjective.

What I mean is the hardware itself. Do you have to mash your finger through the screen in order for it to read your touch? How well does the multitouch work? I mostly want to avoid buying a tablet that has a terrible screen like most of the other cheap android tablets.

2 simultaneous touches. Reads very faint touches as it's a full capacitve sensor array. Feels just like any other capacitive screen, HWwise. Screen's on par with any other widely available tablet out there.

Rooting also exposes the user to greater risk of potential security issues.

That is commonly said, but just not true. A custom ROM is typically more secure than the stock ROM for two reasons. One, because they close the holes used to root it in the first place, and implement an su manager that pops up a confirmation any time an app requests root access. Two, because a custom ROM is going to be updated way, way more often than the stock ROM. You also have the benefit of some security through obscurity, nobody's going to bother writing an exploit that targets the few hundred/thousand people using a specific version of a specific custom ROM. Of course, that's assuming there is a danger of viruses and malware at all, which there is currently zero evidence of on Android.

To save me some research, can someone tell me how easy it is to import one to Europe? I'm assuming I can't just order one from B&N and put the delivery address as Luxembourg. I'm too busy today to try this.

The Nook is a good sign for what to expect in the coming months: Cheap Android tablets that are just good enough to use them. There's no reason a halfway decent tablet couldn't be possible for about $300...

The Nook is a halfway decent tablet, and it's already being retailed at $250 All it's missing are the hardware buttons (for the full Android experience) and adding them isn't going to add any significant cost to the build.

The problem at present is that tablets are currently using (relatively) leading-edge technology and still carry a novelty value, so are being hugely marked up. OTOH, they share a lot of components with smartphones, so I'd expect the economies of scale to kick in fairly quickly...

The Nook is a halfway decent tablet, and it's already being retailed at $250 All it's missing are the hardware buttons (for the full Android experience) and adding them isn't going to add any significant cost to the build.

I believe hardware buttons are optional from Honeycomb onwards, so this problem will soon be rectified (even more so than the workaround in article).

Got one of these for my girlfriend for Christmas. She isn't the tinkerer that I am but I did convince her to let me root her Nook and add the market. The whole process improved a few things such as the keyboard but she really doesn't want me to change it from the default Nook launcher which she prefers. She really just wants it as a reader and doesn't care as much about running a full tablet. I don't think she realizes that I can switch to ADW or LauncherPro at any time but it's hers so I'm not going to mess with it too much.

Sometime when I get bored I will probably burn a Honeycomb image to MicroSD so I can boot to it and check it out but it's not really a big deal.

As a reader it has been good for her. It reads epub and pdf and a bunch of other formats in addition to the B&N store stuff. I'm sure they are selling this at a loss and hoping to subsidize through book sales but the fact that she can buy books from B&N as well as check them out from the library and other sources is the main reason I chose this over other readers. With the market enabled, I could install things like Pulse which look great on the big screen. If the spec were a little better I would buy one of these in a second so I could go all the way and install Honeycomb. As it is, the performance is a little sluggish (maybe lack of optimization, I don't know) and it would annoy me to use as a daily use tablet so I will probably wait for either an improved ROM or for someone else to put out a nicer tablet in the ~$400-500 range with better specs.

You can completly trash everything on the system and basically reformat the internal memory from an external SD card.

Or if you're using Nooter, *without* using clockworkmod, you can restore to stock just by editing a text file and letting the device reboot itself at which point it'll rewrite the entire system drive with the stock image.

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Quote:

(maybe lack of optimization, I don't know)

Stock/Nooter/Eclair doesn't have the FroYo JIT optimizations. The CPU is actually the same as the one in the DroidX and is stable at 1.1ghz.

You can completly trash everything on the system and basically reformat the internal memory from an external SD card.

Or if you're using Nooter, *without* using clockworkmod, you can restore to stock just by editing a text file and letting the device reboot itself at which point it'll rewrite the entire system drive with the stock image.

Isn't writing a rooting article stepping on B&N's right to make money and directly enabling piracy? We aren't supposed to modify our hardware.

</ps3-reference>

- How is it stepping on B&N's right to make money? You still have to buy the nook and are still able to purchase B&N's books from their store.

- Enabling Piracy ... how exactly? I don't see it.

- "We aren't supposed to modify our hardware." ... beyond the obvious that we're modifying the software not the hardware, when you buy an item such as a nook you own it. If you decide to void your warranty then that is your right. B&N has nothing to do with it.

Isn't writing a rooting article stepping on B&N's right to make money and directly enabling piracy? We aren't supposed to modify our hardware.

</ps3-reference>

- How is it stepping on B&N's right to make money? You still have to buy the nook and are still able to purchase B&N's books from their store.

- Enabling Piracy ... how exactly? I don't see it.

- "We aren't supposed to modify our hardware." ... beyond the obvious that we're modifying the software not the hardware, when you buy an item such as a nook you own it. If you decide to void your warranty then that is your right. B&N has nothing to do with it.

You may be overdue for scheduled maintenance on your sarcasm detector.